Chesco very wet the past 3 months

Staff photo by Vinny Tennis
Cars drive through floodwaters caused by a clogged storm drain at the westbound on-ramp to Route 30 from Route 100 south in West Whiteland on Aug. 28. So far, the region has experienced 36.55 inches of rain in 2013, significantly above the normal amount of 28.76 inches.

Unofficially, summer 2013 will go down as perhaps the wettest on record in the Philadelphia region, borne out by rainfall totals from Chester County.

From June 1 to Aug. 31, the National Weather Service at Mount Holly, N.J., recorded 22.18 inches of rainfall, according to Jim Bunker, an observation program leader at the facility. It rained 10.56 inches in June, a stunning 13.24 inches in July and 5.91 inches in August, he said in an interview Friday.

That is in stark contrast to the normal amount of precipitation in those three months of 11.28 inches in Philadelphia, Bunker said. Although he indicated that the rainfall was the most recorded in the city, he could not find the previous maximum figure.

The region has experienced 36.55 inches of rain in 2013, significantly above the normal amount of 28.76 inches, Bunker said.

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Why all the rain?

“We have had a persistent trough set up over us. And with that, we’ve been getting a good southerly flow of air that rings a lot of rain,” Bunker said. Warm, moist air is circulated from the Gulf of Mexico, and that air has collided with an unstable weather mass in the upper atmosphere over the Mid-Atlantic.

“It is just a pattern that lends itself to more active weather — storms, thunderstorms, etc.,” said Kristin Kline, a weather service meteorologist at the New Jersey station, who noted computer models show the pattern would linger over the region for at least another seven to 10 days.

In Chester County, records from the Delaware Environmental Observing System show a similar amount of rainfall.

In West Chester, there have been 46 days with at least some rainfall since June 1. A total of 21.44 inches of rain has fallen: 8.77 inches in June, 4.98 inches in July and 7.69 in August, a month that saw rainstorms of 2.65 inches twice, on Aug. 1 and 13.

In Chester Springs, the totals were similar: 45 days of rain with a total amount of 20.64 inches.

Meanwhile in West Grove, southern Chester County, a paltry 13.41 inches of rain fell on 46 days.

Some county residents were asked to describe their experiences with the heavy rainfall via Facebook. Their responses included everything from grousing to joy.

“Love, love, love it!!! Can’t get enuf!! I am in heaven on earth! Thank you, goodness!!!” wrote Sherry McVickar of West Whiteland.

Her brother, Jamie McVickar of Chester Springs, added: “Just hope it keeps up into the winter so it turns into snow. Imagine — they say one inch of rain equals 10 inches of snow. Can you imagine a winter of 200+ inches of snow? You might not have to imagine it, you might soon live it.”

Karen Cavin of West Chester said she figured the number of inches was high, “but it has been crazy this year. Seems like its been raining since early May. The 6 inches in 3 hours is almost frightening. When was the last time the grass was this green at the end of August? The mowers are laughing all the way to the bank this year. At this rate they will be mowing weekly until we get a heavy frost.”

Kat Ranalli of Thornbury wrote: “I did NOT miss standing around with the hose, moving the sprinklers, watering my patio pots, refreshing the bird baths, trying to remember what plants cannot tolerate drought, or seeing dusty cars!” Meanwhile, Kate Campbell of West Chester wrote she was “extremely grateful that my power didn’t go out so the sump pump continued to work in the basement”?

On a lighter side, David Nicholson of Downingtown weighed in that “to accurately describe the rain this summer, we need to borrow from Chief Brody from ‘Jaws’ and the Bible: If it keeps raining like this, we’re gonna need a bigger Ark!”

Some responding cited global climate change as the culprit for the deluge.

“Crazy droughts in one part of the country and floods in another part of the country — its called “global weirding,” wrote Diane Phillips of West Vincent. “More CO2 in the atmosphere means more global warming, and more global warming means more strange, crazy, unpredictable weather.”

Asked about what part climate change might be playing in the summer weather, Kline said it was simply too early to tell.

“When we look back at this decade in 30 or 40 years, we will be able to see what the pattern was,” she said. “When you are in the midst of it, you cannot make any conclusive comments. More research is needed.”

But Kline offered her own take on the wet summer. “I would rather have a little rain every two to seven days than be in a drought situation,” she said.